{"id":513479,"date":"2026-03-02T08:08:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T08:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/513479\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T08:08:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T08:08:39","slug":"usfs-bryce-archie-adapting-to-mlbs-growing-pains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/513479\/","title":{"rendered":"USF\u2019s Bryce Archie adapting to MLB’s \u2018growing pains\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>Former USF pitcher Bryce Archie found a baseball career after USF, but that doesn\u2019t mean he doesn\u2019t visit Red McEwen every now and then. ORACLE PHOTO\/CAMILLE GRALL<\/p>\n

On Feb. 18, 2025, USF pitcher Bryce Archie<\/a> made his first collegiate appearance on the mound, facing a ranked Florida State squad.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A year later<\/a> to the day, the former two-sport athlete<\/a> watched someone else take the mound \u2014 this time from the home-side bleachers at Red McEwen Field.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since he left USF, Archie said life has been different \u2014 trading out textbooks for a draft card<\/a> and baseball year-round.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Archie was drafted in the 14th round by the Cincinnati Reds in July 2025 while sitting on his couch finishing homework, contemplating a potential return to football.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rounds just kept going by. I\u2019m like, \u2018Okay, maybe I have to go back and play football\u2019. That wasn\u2019t a bad idea for me,\u201d Archie said. \u201cIt happened fast in the span of 24 hours. I was in another state playing baseball again, it was crazy.\u201d
\nRelated: USF football releases 2026 schedule in final season at Raymond James Stadium<\/a><\/p>\n

After the draft, Archie was keen on making his way back to Tampa to get more time with USF assistant coach Daniel Schlereth, whom he called \u201cone of the greatest pitching coaches in the nation.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Schlereth, 39, who is no stranger to the diamond<\/a> after a decade of professional baseball experience, gave Archie a compliment of his own.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think [Archie\u2019s] a sneaky big leaguer waiting to happen,\u201d Schlereth said. \u201cHe\u2019s probably one of my favorite guys I\u2019ve had.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet, beyond his ceiling, USF coach Mitch Hannahs and Schlereth both said they were glad Archie visited \u2014 it meant they were doing something right.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope we develop a relationship with our guys and they feel like they got something that they wouldn\u2019t have gotten in another school,\u201d Hannahs said. \u201cIt makes me feel good that those guys want to be around.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Archie said he didn\u2019t think the place had gotten too bad without him either. In fact, maybe it had improved.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like Mitch did a great job with the guys he brought in,\u201d Archie said. \u201c[I\u2019m] excited to see this team succeed, probably better than we did last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alongside Archie, former USF pitchers Corey Braun and Austin Newton have also made appearances over the offseason, Schlereth said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both were also drafted, by the Athletics and the Rockies, respectively.
\nRelated: USF volleyball coach extended until 2029<\/a><\/p>\n

But coming back to Tampa provided comfort for Archie, who said the transition to the pros was tough. In a rapidly changing moment in life, he found something familiar.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was definitely growing pains at first,\u201d Archie said. \u201cI felt like I didn\u2019t do enough.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

After a year, balancing football and baseball, Archie said he had to reframe his mind to focus solely on baseball.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During his senior spring at USF, Archie split almost every day between baseball and football workouts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was coming from waking up in the morning, going to football, and then in the middle of the day going to baseball,\u201d Archie said. \u201c[Now] I get to wake up on my own time and only do baseball, so it was a lot different, but I feel like I got a good schedule put together and I figured it out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Archie\u2019s quick adaptation to life in the big leagues didn\u2019t surprise Schlereth or Hannahs, though.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cGuys like [Archie] are easy,\u201d Schlereth said. \u201cIt makes it easy when a guy buys in immediately.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

As Archie turns the page, now a member of the Arizona Complex League Reds<\/a>, he\u2019s working to not overcomplicate America\u2019s past time<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Players often get caught up in the allure of making it past college, but he said it\u2019s still just baseball.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s a lot different,\u201d Archie said. \u201cAt the end of the day, you\u2019re playing baseball, and you still got those strikes.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, despite the change of pace, Archie could never find himself too far from Red McEwen Field \u2014 even if it meant trading his glove for a ticket at the box office. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former USF pitcher Bryce Archie found a baseball career after USF, but that doesn\u2019t mean he doesn\u2019t visit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-513479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}